Employment inequality in India during the pandemic

Abstract

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced response policies initiated by the Indian states disproportionately impact the employment of different groups in terms of gender, caste and religion. This study analyses the impact of the COVID-19-induced labor policies on employment inequality across different groups in India.Design/methodology/approachThe authors identify different exogenous COVID-19-induced labor policies initiated by the Indian states, and synthesize them into direct and indirect labor policies. The authors employ a panel model to examine the impact of COVID-19-induced labor policies on employment inequality.FindingsThe authors find that the direct and indirect labor policies induce a decline in the employment rate, and create employment inequality among gendered and religious sub-groups. Females and Muslims have not significantly benefited from the COVID-19-induced labor policies. However, disadvantaged caste groups have benefited from direct and indirect labor policies.Research limitations/implicationsThe time period during which this research was conducted was quite brief, and the qualitative impact of labor policies on employment inequality has not been accounted for.Practical implicationsThis study unravels the distributive impact of the COVID-19-induced direct and indirect labor policies on the well-being of vulnerable laborers.Social implicationsThe study provides novel empirical evidence of the beneficial role of a proactive government. This study’s findings suggest the need for specific distributive labor policies to address employment inequality among gender and religious groups in India.Originality/valueThe study employs new data sources and synthesizes the COVID-19-induced labor policies into direct and indirect labor policies. In addition, the study contributes to understanding the impact of COVID-19 induced direct and indirect labor policies on employment inequality across gender, caste and religious sub-groups in India.

Do comprehensive labor measures reduce the severity of the pandemic? Evidence from India

“…The role of the state government in health is essential in a large developing country such as India where resources are already strained (Choutagunta et al, 2021). Considering the limited capacity of the federal government, the Indian state governments initiated several health and labor measures to counter the impact of the pandemic Goswami, 2020, 2021;Goswami and Kujur, 2022).…”

“…We notice that a range of state-level socioeconomic factors affects the Covid-19 severity. The higher employment rate is associated with higher Covid-19 mortality (Hawkins et al, 2020;Kujur and Goswami, 2021;Goswami and Kujur, 2022). For this, we control for the state-wise monthly rural employment rate.…”

“…, 2021). Considering the limited capacity of the federal government, the Indian state governments initiated several health and labor measures to counter the impact of the pandemic (Kujur and Goswami, 2020, 2021; Goswami and Kujur, 2022).…”

Risk-reducing strategies and labour vulnerability during the pandemic in India

“…Considering the large presence of the labour force and, more specifically, in the informal sector, India has also adopted various disaster risk-reducing strategies and techniques to reduce the vulnerability of the labourers during the pandemic. In addition to the central (federal) government's Covid-19 disaster management strategies [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] ], the state governments have also adopted numerous pandemic resilience strategies [ 8 , 9 ]; [ 10 ]; [ 11 ]; [ 12 ]. 1 This study analyses the impact of the Covid-19 induced risk-reducing labour strategies on employment across urban and rural regions in India.…”